


Missing Pieces

by BrianneABanana



Category: RWBY
Genre: Blood and Injury, Discrimination, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Past physical trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-12
Updated: 2020-02-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:48:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22673563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrianneABanana/pseuds/BrianneABanana
Summary: Qrow has secrets just like any other person in remnant. He does his best to keep them very close to his chest, so much so that only a handful of people know his biggest one.His darkest however, is kept so deep inside that not even his beloved nieces know it.How in all of Remnant has this Atlesian man wormed his way into the dark then?
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi
Comments: 5
Kudos: 129





	Missing Pieces

**Author's Note:**

> Here's another Fair Game fic I cooked up! This one is darker than the last one, so please read the tags and be warned for darker content.  
> Hope y'all like it <3

The whispers that spread through the woods of Mistral told of a terrifying faunus woman, with jet black hair and wings that shimmered in the moonlight. She instilled fear into the hearts of all who faced her, even those who merely felt her presence nearby or heard her tribe’s haunting calls.

Similar tales weaved through Vales deep forest, though they told of a lonely man with the same jet black hair who brought trouble wherever he went. He was just as strong as the woman, though he commanded begrudging respect, not fear, from those he encountered.

The ones who heard tales of the two dark haired warriors often compared them; their strikingly similar hair, colors, and weapons- some even went as far as to suggest they be related. Those words, however, were quickly shot down by the most obvious of observations-

The woman had wings.

The man did not.

* * *

Qrow laid in his bed, the one in the apartment Jimmy had directed him to when he and his gaggle of kids arrived in Atlas. 

‘ **_After_ ** _ being arrested. Thanks Jimmy. _ ’ 

He couldn’t sleep, so his mind drifted back to the night all those weeks ago that Ozpin spoke through Oscar, telling the kids about his and Raven’s ability to turn into a bird. That information enough had surprised them and sowed distrust towards Oz. If they had been told the whole truth however… or, at least  _ his  _ whole truth.... 

He shifted, turning his gaze out the window and into the night sky. 

The truth  _ was _ , Qrow Branwen was a faunus. Everyone who knew that Raven was his sister had easily made the connection that he was as well, being blood related to her. His only tell was his black and silver hair, which if you looked close enough, resembled a nest of feathers in the right light. His sister's hair was much the same, as was his blood niece’s. Yang hadn’t even known about her faunus lineage until she met her mother in Mistral. Her hair was fine like feathers too, so no one, not even she herself, had noticed. 

Now usually, you would think that Qrow would be thankful that people didn’t notice his faunus lineage. Everyone who found out told him how lucky he was that he ‘passed’ as a human.

‘ _ Sure…  _ **_Lucky_ ** ’ he scoffed.

Qrow couldn’t exactly fault them though. They didn’t understand, they didn’t  _ know _ … Not even Glynda or James or his  _ nieces _ knew the full, unfortunate story. He could count the number of people who  _ did _ know on one hand, and he would never voluntarily add to that count if he could help it.

He sighed. Sleep wasn’t coming to him. ‘ _ Might as well take a walk around. It's a shame I’ll be tired for the mission with Jimmy’s special operatives tomorrow.... _ ’

* * *

“Well that was different.” Qrow said to himself. The mission with the Ace Ops had gone off without any hitches, ending successfully and safely. He even got to know their captain Clover Ebi, and found out about his very coincidental semblance. 

_ “Good fortune huh?” _

* * *

“That was a close one” 

“You’re tellin me.”

Qrow and Clover relaxed in the back of the transport truck, their group having successfully bypassed Robyn’s blockade. Qrow and Clover had grown closer since their first meeting, with the two often put on missions together. This one was no exception, though Ruby and Penny tagged along to help transport supplies.

“So,” Qrow started, resuming their conversation before the  _ Happy _ interruption, “You and Robyn know each other?”

Clover laid back in his lax position against the crates of supplies and made a contemplative face. “Sort of. She and I have met before due to her involvement in politics, but nothing beyond political events and small talk. Robyn only wants to help the people of Mantle and I think she has a good chance of success.”

“That’s a nice sentiment to hear from a military lacky who follows Jimmy. Glad to know you believe in someone fighting the good fight rather than blindly following your boss.”

The brunet chuckled, “I trust the general a great deal, but I  _ do _ believe in doing the right thing for the people. So... you’ve learned a bit about me, can I ask you about  _ your  _ past? I’ve been meaning to ask you about your adventures as a legendary huntsman. I’ve only heard a few things from the General and Commander Winter, and the occasional whisper from tourists about a famous black haired warrior of Vale-”

“You mean _ infamous _ .” Qrow interrupted. “I was a regular nomad just like anyone else in the forests of Vale, fighting grimm to survive. Nothing special. Anyone who got too close didn’t fare well so I kept away from towns and people alike.”

Clover hmmed, “I would disagree! Living out in the wild on your own and taking out hordes of grimm sounds amazing! And I know now that you blamed your semblance for the bad things happening to people, but don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten what I told you about how that doesn’t define you?”

Qrow was stunned into silence, so Clover continued, “So. Besides the rumors of your crazy adventures of beating grimm, what about the connections to the black haired woman? Are the whispers true that you two are really related?”

A dark look came to Qrows eyes and he went quiet for a moment, then sighed. “Yea. I’m surprised Jimmy didn’t tell you about her actually. That woman’s name is Raven, and she’s my twin sister.”

“You’re sister? But… isn’t she a faunus? Wouldn’t that make you?...”

“Yes, Lucky Charm, I’m a faunus.” Qrow said flatly. His gaze narrowed and moved away from his partner, unwilling to see the disdain on the military man’s face. ‘ _ Go ahead, get mad that I didn’t tell you I was a faunus. Speak your betrayal like others have before.’  _ Qrow thought.

“I guess your hair  _ does _ look rather feathery…”

Qrow whipped his head around and found Clover looking at him a little  _ too closely _ .

“W-what?”

“Huh? Oh I said your hair looks feathery! That’s your faunus characteristic right? You don’t have any other avian features that I can see…”

“You.. you don’t have a problem with me being a faunus?”

“Why would I? Ok so Atlesians aren’t known to be all that friendly to faunus and sure we tease Marrow some, but that’s because he’s younger than us! I assure you that you being a faunus makes no difference to me.”

Qrow slumped down further as he relaxed. Clover of course took notice.

“I’m sorry if others have given you crap about being faunus before. I honestly would never have known. Your hair is so subtle; it must be nice not being easily identifiable if what Marrow told me about spending time around Atlas nobles was like. What a lucky break right?”

Qrow balked, “And here I thought you had a good memory. Didn’t you hear me before? My semblance is  _ mis _ fortune. There was nothing  _ lucky _ about how I was born.”

“What do you mean?”

The older man sighed, “Look, it's nothing. I’m just a bitter old man. Drop it ok?”

“If you say so… another round of cards then?”

Qrows smile came back a little, “I’ll beat you yet Lucky Charm, just deal.”

* * *

A few days after the truck fiasco, the two were assigned on another convoy mission. This time though, they were alone. Their task was to deliver supplies to, and search the mines over for any grimm that might have entered the mines after they had previously cleared them. It went much like their first mission there: quiet, with more idle conversation between the huntsman. 

Even with Clover at his side, Qrow never let his guard down. Sure, the man had made strides in knocking down some of Qrows walls in a short time, but his semblance had too tight of a hold on his instincts to leave him content on missions just yet. He was proven right when they found a pack of worm grimm digging out a new tunnel that immediately attacked them. 

Qrow and Clover fought easily against the group of worm grimm, using their newfound teamwork to defeat most of them. Qrow burst forward with a flurry of punches and slashes with his scythe, and Clover brought up the rear, whipping Kingfishers razor sharp line to behead the worms Qrow missed. Qrow was feeling a tad nervous about winning so easily, but only when a rogue worm grimm burst out of the ground behind him and slashed a gash into his side did Qrow fully relax. 

Well, as much as one guy could relax with a gash in his side.

‘ _ This is more what I expected.’ _

“Qrow!” Clover called after killing the last grimm with a flick of his reel. “Are you ok?”

The scythe wielder dropped his weapon with a clatter and stumbled over to the closest wall holding his left side. “A-ah… Don’t worry a-about it Clover, it's- it's just a gash.” His body contradicted him when he fell to his knees, his blood running through his fingers and soaking his clothes.

Clover’s face hardened as he skidded to a stop and fell to his knees beside the other man, “Don’t give me that nonsense, we need to patch you up and get you medical help back home. Here, take your shirts off so I can wrap your wound.”

Qrow nodded lethargically, removing his vests and shirts with Clovers help. He leaned his head up against the cold wall and tensed when Clover held what was probably one of his shirts to his wound to stop the initial bleeding. He heard Clover softly gasp and lessen his pressure on the wound.

“What? It's not really that bad is it?”

Clover seemed distracted. He took a few seconds to respond.

“No… no your wound isn’t too bad but Qrow… what are these  _ scars _ ?” 

Qrow tensed again as Clovers light touch ran across his shoulder blades.  _ ‘Those are-’ _

_ “They’re nothing.” _ he ground out. “Just wrap the wound so we can go ok?”

“Qrow they’re not nothing! They’re  _ huge _ you can’t just-”

“I can and I  **_will!_ ** I…” Qrow felt the fight leave him, “Look, I didn’t want you to find out!... not like  _ this _ …”

Clover had gone silent at Qrow’s voice, almost too soft to hear and strained with pain. 

_ ‘Probably not pain from his wound either.’ _

“Ok,” Clover conceded, “it's gonna be ok. I’ll wrap your wound and we can go back to the convoy.”

* * *

Clover practically carried Qrow back to the ship. He helped the other man lie down on the bench seat, then set the autopilot to bring them to Mantle. He slowly approached Qrow again, crouching down to be closer to eye level with him lying down.

“Qrow.. I understand if you don’t want to tell me about your scars but...”

“But you want to know, right?” he said, his hand over his eyes.

“Yes… It pains me to know that you went through something that looked so painful and I want to make you feel better.”

Qrow chuckled weakly and tensed when his wound moved wrong. “Of  _ course _ you want to make me feel better… Not even knowing how long ago it happened..” 

Clover took Qrows hand in silent support. Qrow relaxed a little.

“Well then…” He took his hand off his eyes, but starred at the ceiling to avoid eye contact with Clover. “To start, you know I’m a faunus, but what you  _ don’t _ know is that I was born a bird faunus with wings like my twin sister.”

Clover squeezed his hand, connecting some of the dots.

Qrow continued, “I also had the feathery hair of course, which is, as many many people said, subtle. Not many people know I'm a faunus because of it, and... and even less know that my wings were cut off by trophy hunters when I was 13.” 

Clover let out a soft gasp, his face contorting in anguish. He was almost crushing Qrows hand now.

“Don’t look so hurt Lucky Charm. I was the one to go through that. Besides, it happened a couple decades ago, it doesn’t matter anymore.” 

“Doesn’t matter?!” Clover shouted, appalled. He realized he startled the older man so he softened his voice and his grip, “Qrow no matter how long ago it happened it doesn't change that those people hurt you irreparably. You have massive scars and I’m sure you still have some trauma over the incident. Please don’t sweep this under the rug or say it's  _ nothing _ .” 

Qrow looked away, a tad ashamed to remember that Clover was right. He tried his best to open up, “Well, I did go through a lot at first. It wasn’t just the physical pain that continued for weeks, but somehow it was worse to hear people try and make me feel better. Humans, I expected to try and make it into something positive, but even  _ faunus _ told me that my wings being gone was a good thing. That I didn’t have to worry about people finding out I was a faunus. I mourned the faunus connection I was proud of, and all anyone told me was to be happy they were gone. No one in my life now outside of my family, Oz’s team, and the kids know about my race, and fewer still know that I ever had wings at all.” 

Clover looked ashamed. “I can’t believe I said those same things to you… Qrow I’m  _ so sorry _ I-” 

Qrow tried to sit up and stop his partners apology, “Clover-”

“Wait don’t get up you’ll reopen your wound!-”

_ “Clover!”  _

Qrows heavy breath was the only sound for a moment, Clover having gone quiet at his outburst.

The younger man’s hands frozen, reaching out to Qrow. 

Finally, Qrow looked straight into the other man’s eyes, “ _ Clover _ , you didn’t know. It’s  _ ok.. _ . I didn’t take it like I did back then because the bandits who told me that shit  _ knew _ about my wings, and everyone else thought I was lucky to avoid a bad social fate. Your words didn’t have the same connotation.” 

“Only if you say so. Still I’m glad you know I didn’t mean to hurt you with those words.”

“I  _ do _ say so. I can’t ever imagine you saying something like that to purposefully hurt me Mr. _ ’you’re more than you realize.’ _ And what’re you waiting for? Put those arms to use and hold me already.”

The tension left Clovers shoulders as he chuckled and reached out to cradle Qrow in his lap.

The duo sat in silence until they reached Mantle. Clover got up first to help Qrow to stand. 

“Let’s get you to Pietro so he can patch you up better. He’ll be discreet about your scars.” 

* * *

The sun had set by the time the duo ended up leaving Pietro’s clinic - Qrow freshly stitched, bandaged, and leaning on Clovers shoulder with Clovers arm around his waist - so the Atlesian offered to have Qrow stay with him for the night. 

“I don’t feel right leaving you to get home by yourself, or even just leaving you alone in your apartment. I know you’re plenty capable, but please let me help you tonight.”

Qrow smiled at Clovers attempt at being gentlemanly. “For a boy scout, you’re being so forward  _ Captain Clover _ ! Will I be getting _ Lucky _ with you tonight?” he teased.

“U-uh Well… not tonight, because of your injuries! But maybe once you’ve healed” He responded, blushing and looking away.

Qrow snickered, “That was such a  _ you _ response Lucky Charm. You’ve been helping me all evening, but I won’t deny anymore from you.” He leaned further onto Clover and put his hand on his chest, “Lead the way.”

* * *

The two don’t spend much time hanging out when they get to Clovers apartment in Atlas. Qrow was exhausted so he and Clover simply stripped and settled into Clovers bed. 

The next morning, Clover woke up as he had gone to bed: his arms around Qrows waist, spooning him, careful not to put pressure on his wound. The other man was still asleep, looking content and letting out little kitten snores. 

Qrow shifted a bit, lying more on his front, showing Clover his back. The bandages Pietro applied were low enough that Clover could clearly see Qrows old wing scars. 

Clover couldn’t help but wrap Qrow up tighter in his arms and kiss his scars. “You’re perfect as you are Qrow Branwen. Wings or no wings.” Clover felt Qrows hands cover his and he saw his face turn pink. 

_ “Love you too Clover” _


End file.
